Lord and Lands - Rules Review

As recent activity on this blog can attest, I've been pretty busying with painting miniatures for and playing games of Kings of War. It's a creative and hobby outlet for a desire I've had for a long time - to play mass fantasy battle games. 

Skirmish and Warband sized games are all well and good, but I've always wanted to fight the epic battles described in fantasy novels, with lines of infantry and cavalry of various fantastic races clashing alongside big monsters. 

Almost a decade ago, I dabbled in Warhammer Fantasy Battles, back when 8th Edition was first released. But even then, Games Workshop's prices and rules weren't very attractive, and so my brief dalliance quickly came to an end. 

Seven years passed before I would try a mass fantasy battle ruleset again, and that was the previous version of Kings of War, in the form of the Battle of the Sta Lat Hills battle report I posted last year. Here, I thought, was a ruleset I could get behind. Fast playing, easy to pick up with apparently plenty of tactics, no individual model removal - everything I could want.

Or so I thought. But after a dozen or so games of the newest version of Kings of War, I seem to be stagnating. It may be because I chose a faction that isn't very fantasy-esque, and so loses in an arms race against the other factions that can field bigger and better units. It may be that I chose to use Games Workshop models for the majority of the army. In my defense, however, they were on sale! But for some reason, I find myself becoming less and less enthusiastic about playing Kings of War, and I'm not about to drop another $200-$300 for a new full sized army. I began to look for potential alternative, like Pendraken's new game, Warband.

And then, about a month ago, I listened to Episode 164 of the Meeples & Miniatures podcast and was introduced to the Lord & Lands ruleset, produced by Craig Armstrong. 

After listening to the episode, I decided to buy the PDF of the Fantasy and Historical versions of the rules directly from Craig for a little less than $12. By the way, if you haven't figured out by now, this is a review of the Fantasy rules.

So, what's in the PDF?

The 60 or so pages are split evenly between the rules and the background for the world of Mikronos, from which Lord and Lands borrows its factions and models. All of these are available from Microworld Games.

I decided to make a physical "gamer's edition" copy of the rules for myself by cutting out the background. Not that you should skip over the fluff, however - Craig has done a great job of fleshing out Mikronos, with histories and conflicts ranging over the various continents.

The factions currently available in the official army list document are:

• The Army of Rexunus - standard medieval fantasy humans
• Wildland Alliance -  were-elephants, rhino-men, and simians
• Dwarves
• Orcs & Goblins
• Woodlands - wood elves and their allies
• Undead
• Beastkin - the more savage and evil opposite of the Wildland Alliance
• Vikings - with giants!
• Dread Elves - evil elves
• Lizardmen
• The Firmament Army - molemen and stonemen
• The Dark Alliance - evil humans
• Hobgoblins
• Demons

Fourteen factions to start is a pretty nice, and there's even a points calculation system if you want to try adding in your own races. In addition, the Fantasy and Historical versions are compatible, so if you've ever wanted to see what might happen if Rome was invaded by Orcs instead of Goths, here's your chance. 

So, apart from the factions, what else makes this game intriguing?

First is the use of commands pips (player initiative points). Each player rolls a number of dice depending on the size of their army, adding in one additional die for their General. This determines both initiative for the turn, and how many actions each player can take. 

PIPs can be spent for a number of actions - moving, increasing movement distances, improving combat abilities, casting spells, etc. Since unit activations alternate between players, one has to know when to spend PIPs and when to conserve them for later. You may decide to move your troops all over the table, only to realize that, with no PIPs left, the enemy has the ability to outfight you in every battle.

I find that these kinds of mechanics - those that generate "friction" when commanding troops - are important for mass battle games. In Kings of War, units do exactly want you want them to do, with no chance of messing up or potentially being left behind. 

Another interesting mechanic is the "dips combat system." There's no dice rolling for combat in Lord and Lands! Well, there is if you want it, but what's the fun in that? Instead, players "dip" their hands into a bag full of tokens. You want to have equal amounts of two different colors - one to indicate success, and the other failure. Tokens are replaced after each player's "dip" so there's no chance of diminishing chances. If you want to, the same mechanics can be recreated by rolling dice and counting each result of a 4+ as a success. 

As for potential problems, there are formatting and spelling errors. There are frequent enough that a rewrite might be necessary, but the game is playable from the current rules.

Additionally, a readthrough reveals some odd sections here and there. For example, units can move in groups of up to four bases, but the rules don't cover how units can enter and exit these groups. I assume that units can move out of groups freely, and can join together by having the sides of their bases touch at some point during their movement.

The army lists are a little messy as well, but on a whim I decided to go through them and do a little cleaning for my own usage. 

I'm hoping to get a test game done soon, with some notecard cutouts. In the mean time, why not visit the resource page, or check out Craig's Youtube channel to watch some demonstrations of the game's mechanics.

Painting Update - Frostgrave

I've finally gotten around to painting my warband for Frostgrave. I've been lucky so far, so my roster hasn't changed all that much, which means I've only had a few models to paint. 

All the models are Warhammer figures - if I ever want to expand, I'll probably buy the official stuff. There's no reason not to support a game I enjoy!

First up, we've got Fayrlock the Sigilist, and his apprentice Willem.

Next are the three "professional" soldiers in the warband; Karl (Infantryman), Deryk (Marksman), and Pavel (Knight).

There's the adventurers; Leocantro (Treasure Hunter), Brellyn (Ranger), and Fang (Warhound).

And finally, the lowlifes; Stabbes (Thug), Reg (Thief), and Choppes (Thug).

If you noticed that the warband numbers eleven instead of the usual ten, it's because Fayrlock had a Kennel installed in his base after one of the early games, which allows him to add a Warhound to the group above the normal limit.

I decided to stick with the blank, black bases as an aesthetic choice. Frostgrave's focus on the wizards and its use of d20 dice gives it a very D&D feel, and I wanted my miniatures to look something like the pre-painted miniatures that Wizards of the Coast produces for the RPG. In fact, the Warhound is a repainted Yeth Hound from the Pathfinder miniatures line.

Leveled Out - Frostgrave AAR

I played a few games of Frostgrave last year, but the game didn't gather much traction with the usual crew. Kevyn, however, expressed some interest in playing, and picked up the necessary supplies to play. 

We decided to see how the game worked with a lower level wizard (Kevyn's 1st level Thaumaturge) against a higher level wizard (my 13th level Sigilist). We did use a handicap system, however; Kevyn's wizard and apprentice had a +1 to all their spell casting rolls, one additional treasure to place on the table, and at the end of the game would get experience points equal to 10x the difference in our wizard's levels. 

Kevyn deployed his warband, not realizing that he could get an additional soldier in each spellcaster's activation range.

My own warband set up across the table. We decided, since it was Kevyn's first game, to play a standard game - so six treasure tokens (seven including Kevyn's extra) on the table, and a five turn limit, as we were using the Bad Karma rule amendments.

The Apprentice had half of the warband advance with him - a ranger, thief, thug, and warhound. He successfully cast Fleet Feet on the warhound, increasing its movement to 10".

While my Wizard was backed up by the rest of the group - a treasure hunter, knight, infantryman, marksman, and another thug. The Wizard also successfully cast Awareness, giving my warband a +1 to initiative rolls.

Kevyn's warband started towards the center of the table as well, with his Wizard casting Shield on his Man-at-Arms.

My Wizard threw up a Shield on the Knight, and a scrum began on the left side of the table, as Kevyn's Man-at-Arms and Thug engaged my Knight and Infantryman.

My soldiers were able to grab a momentary advantage as the Infantryman damaged and pushed the Man-at-Arms back. Despite being outnumbered, Kevyn's Thug took out my Infantryman before falling to my Knight.

My Treasure Hunter, meanwhile, grabbed one of the treasure tokens and, using his Ring of Teleportation, quickly made his escape. My two Thugs also did their jobs well and grabbed a treasure token each, scoring me three in total for the game.

Kevyn had the opportunity to get a treasure off the table, but my Warhound took down the soldier carrying it. My thief tried going after the enemy Apprentice, but was stopped by an Infantryman.

Kevyn did manage to get a treasure token off the table. My Wizard and his lined up for a duel.

And two Elemental Bolts later, my Wizard and Apprentice were down and out for the count!

And in the last Soldier phase, Kevyn's Man-at-Arms and my Knight tied on their attack rolls (each scoring 21), and so managed to take each other out at the last moment.

Unfortunately for Kevyn, his casualties saw the death of his Infantryman and Man-at-Arms, both of whom were replaced by Thugs. He did manage to secure a Fate Stone, however.

My own warband saw the Knight get badly wounded, so he'll be out for the next game. I did manage to get some more gold and a variety of scrolls and grimoires, but I spent the levels Fayrlock gained to improve his spells.

Despite the difference in levels, Kevyn enjoyed the game and saw that a high shoot roll for a spell like Elemental Bolt can take out a wizard in one hit, especially if the wizard has taken some hits previously. He expressed his interest in playing some more Frostgrave.

The handicap system we used worked well, and I've decided to add it to my ongoing "rules changes" document.

Graveyard Shift - Strange Aeons AAR

Last week, I decided I needed a break from Kings of War, and instead played a few games of Strange Aeons with Carl and Kevyn using the 2nd Edition demo kit. 

Carl and I played the first game, and Carl and Kevyn played the second. The last game, between Kevyn and I, was probably the one where we had the strongest grasp on the rules, so I decided to take pictures then. 

Apologies for the unpainted terrain and miniatures. The recent weather hasn't been conducive to getting any priming/painting done. 

The table setup was the same for all three games. The Threshold agents and the Lurkers came on the short table edges and the objective was to fight until the last enemy was dead.

The Threshold agents consisted of: 

James Blackwood (Character) - Tommy Gun, .45 Pistol, Cleaver

Hazel Ashton (Agent) - Double-Barreled Shotgun, Knife

Howard Philip (Civilian) - .22 Pistol, Knife

And on the Lurker side:
Cult Leader - Doubled Barreled Shotgun, Cleaver
Cultist - .22 Pistol
Cultist - Knife
Fishman

Having realized just how powerful the Fishman could be (he's a monster in close combat, and can cause humans to go insane just by standing next to them), James and Howard focused their fire on the shambling creature. The briny-smelling body quickly collapsed to the floor, riddled with bullet holes.

Things didn't go nearly as well for Hazel. She had tried moving up behind one of the smaller tombs to ready her shotgun for when the Lurkers got closer.

Suddenly, the knife-wielding Cultist appeared at her side and shanked her before she could let out a cry of alarm.

The fearless Agent Blackwood leaped over the tombstones and fired two bursts from his Tommy Gun on automatic at the pistol-armed Cultist and the Cult Leader.

The gunfire easily cut down the hapless cultist, but went right over the head of the diminutive Leader!

A malicious smile on his face, the Leader pulled one trigger on his Double-Barreled Shotgun, hitting James and putting him on his back.

And the second barrel left a red smear on the damp grass of the graveyard's grounds.

Too far away to realize that both of the Threshold agents assigned to this mission were dead, Howard took aim at the last Cultist, and put him down.

Emboldened by his own actions, H.P. decided to then charge the Cult Leader, thinking he could handled the dwarf.

But the civilian went down with a cleaver in his head. The Lurkers (what remained of them, anyway) survived to perform whatever dark ritual that brought them to the graveyard in the first place.

Were this a real campaign for Strange Aeons, now would be the point at which we'd figure out what injuries/rewards the Threshold agents would get (probably not much on the latter, and a whole lot of the former!).

Strange Aeons is definitely a bloody, fast game, with humans able to die very quickly, especially if they've gone insane and have either fallen to the ground or panicked and fled.

I'm hoping that we'll see more releases for the game in the future.

Painting Update - Wargods of Aegyptus, Guild Ball, European Village

Here's another update from the painting table. 

I completed another unit from my Wargods of Aegyptus project. 

This is technically an 11-strong unit of Asar Warriors with hand weapons, shields, and medium armor. The unit Champion, which is bought independently, is equipped in the same way and is placed in between the Musician and the Standard Bearer.

This is the second unit in my small warband of Dispossessed (followers of Osiris and Isis) for Wargods. I know just have to paint the characters - the Harbinger, Hero, Master of Words, and Priestess of Isis - and that'll be the core done. From there, I'll move onto some units and characters from other races. Probably Tethru and Sebeki.

I'm also pretty pleased with the blue/bronze color scheme. I've been considering doing the same for the other races, but decided against it. I think it'll look better if each race has their own scheme. For the Tethru, I'm thinking of using gold and purple, and green and tan for the Sebeki.

I also worked on my Union team for Guild Ball. Including Mist, this puts me at seven Union players - just shy of the eight player limit for tournaments. I'm going to be using this team for the foreseeable future, as I'm planning on running them in a tournament later in April.

One of these players - Decimate, on the right in the back row - can play for the Masons, so that gives me more options for my original team. Gutter, Fangtooth, and Rage (front-left, back-left, and back-middle, respectively) can't play for the Masons. They can, however, all play for the Brewers, as can Hemlocke, the other Union player I'm considering picking up as my eighth. I wonder if that's a sign as to what my third Guild Ball team should be, sometime in the future...

When I put up my blog post about painting Mist, I complained about the quality of the paints I used - Privateer Press' "Beaten Purple" and Citadel's Blood Red. To replace these, I used Vallejo's Game Model "Hexed Lichen" and Citadel's "Wazdakka Red." While the Hexed Lichen is great, I wouldn't want to use Wazdakka Red any more than necessary.

Additionally; back in August of last year, I talked about a few buildings I was working on for some WWII terrain. While other projects have taken up most of my painting time, I have been working on the buildings on and off, and finally managed to finish them.

The fence came together nicely, with some simple painting and washes.

The miscasting is still noticeable on some pieces, however. But it's easy to miss at arm's length.

The Barn House looks great, although I did skip painting the interior.

The same goes for the battle-damaged Continental House.

And a Western European Barn. 

These buildings ended up being pretty great, and I'm looking into picking up at least the rest of the buildings in the series, either whole or battle-damaged. This comes at the cost of realizing that the Battlefront building I bought is far bigger than the MkIV buildings - it's so large, I need to remove the top floor just to get in into scale!